Category Archives: Brighton & Hove Albion

For Brighton, this win brought a quarter-final place for the first time since 1986 and the suggestion that Chris Hughton finally has the depth at his disposal to combine a tilt at the FA Cup and a successful relegation fight. For Coventry the battle remains yet more profound; Mark Robins’s League Two side were well beaten but it must be hoped that, at a minimum, such an engaging Cup run has propelled a famous, deeply troubled old name back into the national consciousness for good.

Coventry can take inspiration from their opponents’ own rise from the depths and Brighton’s modern state of health can be divined by the fact that their club record £14m signing from PSV Eindhoven did so much of the damage here. Jürgen Locadia scored on his debut and might have had more; in the event Connor Goldson and Leonardo Ulloa rounded off a satisfying, if not quite routine, afternoon.

Romelu Lukaku is weighing in with some key contributions, Christian Benteke is not and Tottenham are showing how much weaker they are without Christian Eriksen

Sergio Agüero has had a curiosity of a campaign. He has been injured, benched and below par at times. He has been outscored by Raheem Sterling for much of the season. Yet his hat-trick on Saturday meant he has scored 20 goals for a fifth successive campaign. Further milestones await: Agüero is nine away from becoming the first man to score 200 for City. He is 11 behind his career-best tally of 33 and, with successive cup ties against Championship opponents, Bristol City and Cardiff, he has the chance to make further inroads before Gabriel Jesus is fit again. Besides the numbers, the encouraging element for City is that, after an autumnal slump, Agüero looks to have regained his sharpness. He produced purposeful, elusive dribbling, often a sign he is at his best. The sense is that he is relishing the responsibility of being the only available striker while Jesus is out. Richard Jolly

66 min: And then suddenly Brighton spring into life! Gross makes a nuisance of himself under a high ball. Rudiger only half clears with his header. Schelotto bursts in from the right, chests the ball down, and suddenly he’s one on one in the area with Caballero! But the keeper spreads himself brilliantly and saves Chelsea’s bacon. I repeat: how has this game stayed 0-2?

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65 min: Moses probes down the Chelsea right but can’t make room to deliver a cross. The game’s slipped into a lull.

Brighton No 1 has matured in the two years since he conceded seven goals against Messi and co in Barcelona

Mathew Ryan smiles in a self‑deprecating way. Brighton’s goalkeeper is thinking back to the night when Barcelona pummelled Gary Neville’s ragged Valencia side and it is clear he does not have fond memories from his only visit to the Camp Nou. “Wouldn’t it hurt you if you were a goalkeeper?” he says.

Fair point. Selected by Neville for the first leg of Valencia’s Copa del Rey semi-final against the Spanish and European champions in February 2016, it was Ryan’s misfortune to take most of the punches. “I wanted to stop Messi, Suárez and Neymar,” Australia’s No 1 says. “It would have been the night of my life.” Instead, it became one of the lowest moments of his career. Valencia were 3-0 down when Shkodran Mustafi was sent off shortly before half-time, but Barcelona showed no mercy. Leo Messi got a hat-trick, Luis Suárez scored four and Neville was sacked two months after that 7‑0 humiliation.

Despite initial suspicions Crystal Palace manager eventually accepts verdict of new video review system that striker’s goal did not involve any handball

Roy Hodgson admitted he had directed “spiteful” words at the referee, Andre Marriner, after watching the Brighton striker Glenn Murray put his Crystal Palace team out of the FA Cup with a potentially controversial late winner for 2-1. But Hodgson changed his tune entirely after being assured that Murray had not used his hand to ease the ball over the line. The assurances came via the Video Assistant Referee, which had been used for the first time in an English club match.

The teams trot out on to the pitch. Brighton are in their blue and white stripes while Bournemouth are wearing their black and Day-Glo-style green away strip. It’s time for football!

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“There should be a statue for Eddie Howe,” reckons Graeme Souness. “People in Spain and Italy now know where Bournemouth is. It’s where I live,” he says. “I’m a season-ticket holder at Bournemouth.” He actually lives in Sandbanks, which is like a low-rent shrunken Florida Keys but, yes, it is close to Bournemouth.

Anyway, here’s what the Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, has to say: “The momentum we’ve built from the last two games is there in the dressing room. The temptation was there to keep the team [the same as against Everton] but all four changes were enforced. I think we’ve played very well in certain games but we’ve not been consistent and it’s been good to see the creation of chances back in the team. The fact we scored a late goal against Everton, a late goal against West Ham, will give the players momentum.”

The winter window opens on 1 January with most clubs desperate to make signings. Here we look at the 20 clubs and the players they hope will arrive

Arsène Wenger anticipates that he will be busier fielding enquires about fringe players in his squad – he would be open to moving a few out – but he would be interested in an addition if the opportunity presented itself. The want-away Alexis Sánchez will draw the focus. He might prefer to wait for a Bosman move in the summer but an offer from Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain would change the dynamic. Arsenal would be compelled to consider it.

The wisdom of appointing Carlos Carvalhal as Swansea’s new manager is, to say the least, questionable: a man who was dismissed on Christmas Eve for underachieving with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship does not inspire confidence. Still, he may prove successful: many doubted him when he arrived at Wednesday in 2015, and he started well there, reaching the play-offs in his first two seasons. But if he is to change things at the Liberty Stadium, he needs to do it immediately. After Saturday’s game at Watford, three of Swansea’s next four league games are against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Liverpool. If they do not beat the Hornets, they could soon be staring down the barrel of being shy of safety by double figures and of relegation looking even more inevitable than it does now. That new manager bounce needs to be pretty high. NM